Healthcare heroes: More than 14,000 sign up ahead of Melbourne influx

Thousands of doctors and healthcare workers have put their hand up to help relieve overstretched hospitals battling coronavirus outbreaks.

Melbourne hospitals are bracing for an influx of new COVID-19 patients in the next fortnight, while hundreds of hospital staff remain in isolation after contracting the virus.

Professor Andrew Wilson, the chief medical officer for DHHS’s Safer Care Victoria, told Ross and John more than 14,000 medical workers have signed up, from various departments.

“We know from last time when we had all this set-up that, particularly when elective slowed down a little bit and some of the private hospitals particular were quite quiet, there were a lot of doctors and nurses and allied health and others staff who definitely had ability and capacity to do things,” he said.

“So that was a group we really thought was worth targeting.”

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